What Cillian Murphy has in common with Tommy Shelby in the Peaky Blinders movie

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Cillian Murphy has portrayed Tommy Shelby for six seasons and a film, and despite how different he is from the character, there’s something about Tommy in the new movie that still feels distinctly like him.

Tom Harper directed Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and also directed the last three episodes of the show’s first season. Because he hadn’t directed any other Peaky Blinders episodes, he had a special perspective – he could compare Cillian Murphy’s performance from 13 years ago to how it is in the new film.

The film opens with Tommy living in self-imposed exile, but he’s forced to return when his son, Duke (Barry Keoghan), finds himself in trouble. Back in Birmingham, Tommy is treated like a hero and almost a celebrity, a dynamic the actor, Harper, felt mirrored real-life experiences.

He wasn’t sure if the way Cillian Murphy interacted with Tommy Shelby changed, but Cillian himself definitely did. While he’s still the same skilled actor, having recently won an Oscar brought a noticeable strength and confidence to his performance, he explained to Digital Spy.

He’s really grown into his abilities and is now fully in control of his powers, which is amazing. Like the character Tommy, he’s achieved success – he’s ‘won his Oscar,’ so to speak – but feels a little uncomfortable with it all.

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Even after playing Tommy Shelby for years, Cillian Murphy found preparing for the movie felt similar to his initial experiences with the character, rather than feeling completely natural and comfortable.

Murphy explained to Digital Spy that a great aspect of the show was the year or eighteen months they had between seasons. This allowed everyone to work on other projects – like films or theater – and then return to the show with a fresh challenge: figuring out how to recapture the magic.

It sounds like you’ve lost touch and need to refresh your memory. I usually find it helpful to re-watch some recent episodes to get back into the swing of things. Honestly, I can’t quite recall when the character first started driving – it’s been a while!

Steve [Knight] quickly began writing dialogue that felt perfectly suited to my character, creating a natural flow. Once I got back into the role and adjusted, everything clicked, and the process became very seamless.

I’m so excited – the new Peaky Blinders movie, ‘The Immortal Man,’ is finally here! You can catch it in some cinemas now, and if you miss it there, it’s hitting Netflix on March 20th. I can’t wait to watch it!

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2026-03-15 10:19